The Taliban Crow About Getting US Aid While Americans Are Still Trapped
The Taliban Crow About Getting US Aid While Americans Are Still Trapped
The Biden Administration said that how they treated the Taliban going forward after we pulled out of Afghanistan would be contingent on how they dealt with things like human rights.
So as we reported, they’re not going to help with ISIS (because, frankly, they’re more in line with them). They’re being oppressive with their own people. They’re still not letting Americans leave out of Mazar-i-Sharif at last check (not that the Biden Administration or the media seems to care about that).
But that’s not stopping the Biden folks from talking about providing aid to Afghanistan.
According to the Taliban, Biden officials agreed to the aid during recent talks in Doha, Qatar.
While State Department spokesperson Ned Price wouldn’t specifically confirm that, he did say it was discussed and praised the Taliban, saying the talks were “candid and professional.”
“On October 9 and 10, an interagency delegation traveled to Doha, Qatar to meet with senior Taliban representatives. The U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society,” Price said in a statement.
“The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people. The discussions were candid and professional with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words.”
The Biden Administration reported in September that they would be providing humanitarian aid of an additional $64 million to Afghanistan. It’s not clear if they are talking about even more aid with these talks.
Translation: the Biden team is cutting money without the Taliban doing anything at all to earn it or remediating their behavior in any way. Indeed, the Biden team has more praise for the Taliban then they do for unvaccinated Americans who they demonize.
Or are we going to see more Americans let out of Afghanistan after this meeting? We saw some people allowed out after the announcement about aid in September. But don’t say ‘ransom’ or ‘pallets of cash.’
Then there’s another thing that’s questionable — like everything else that the Biden team says. The aid is to be delivered “directly to the Afghan people.” What does that mean exactly? The U.S. has previously spoken about sending it to NGOs and UN agencies.
But UN agencies like the World Food Program are debating things like cash airlifts – meaning directly distributing money to Afghans in need and or sending the cash to be held in banks. I don’t know about you, but does anyone think cash airlifts aren’t ultimately going to go to the Taliban? I mean maybe I’m just cynical, but sending cash into a historically corrupt system doesn’t exactly sound like that’s a good idea.
Why are we not saying ‘no money until all Americans and Afghan allies are out’? Because their economy is in such crisis, we hold some leverage over them at this point, but no one seems willing to hold them to account here.
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